1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a humidifier and a water distiller, and more particularly, concerns a combination humidifier/water distiller apparatus which operates to simultaneously distill tap water while providing the distilled water to the humidifier for use therewith.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Humidifiers or nebulizers are well-known and have been used for a variety of purposes. In particular, humidifiers are used in the home, office and elsewhere to humidify the air by increasing its moisture or water content. In situations where the surrounding air is relatively dry, humidifiers have been found to be quite beneficial in supplying additional moisture to reduce the dryness. Some people who have breathing difficulties or are affected by low humidity in a dry environment often times rely upon a humidifier to alleviate these difficulties. A particularly well-known use of humidifiers is its placement in a room with a child who may be experiencing breathing difficulties as a result of a cold, flu or the like. There are, of course, other reasons and uses for humidifiers.
For the most part, people who use humidifiers in the home or for non-professional reasons rely on tap water to start their humidifers. Tap water includes many minerals or other impurities which affect the performance and life of the humidifier components. For instance, various salts, metals and minerals in ordinary tap water contribute to the corrosion of some parts of typical humidifiers. As a result, the effective life of the humidifier may be shortened if such corrosion occurs. On the other hand, use of distilled water in a humidifier would avoid many of these problems since the distilled water has been purified and does not contain those distructive elements normally found in tap water. The problem that arises, however, is that distilled water is not always on hand for use, whereas tap water is always conveniently available. Therefore, for convenience purposes, tap water often times is the water of choice. If distilled water could be conveniently made available for the humidifier, reliance on tap water would not be so predominant. Accordingly, it is one of the purposes of the present invention to provide a combination humidifier/water distiller that starts with tap water, purifies or distills that water, and then makes the distilled water available to the humidifier portion of the apparatus.
Water distillers are known and available for purifying tap water. By converting tap water to steam or vapor, and then back again to water, chemicals and impurities are removed from the water. Further, the distillation process kills microorganisms. Distilled water is not only beneficial for purposes of the humidifier, as described above, but has other independent uses. For example, distilled water may be consumed for drinking purposes and used in circumstances where impurities, minerals or chemicals might be problematical. Home water distillers are available which take tap water, heat the water until it vaporizes, and collect the condensated water which normally is distilled as water droplets.
It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a combination humidifier/water distiller which takes ordinary tap water and distills it. This distilled water may then be tapped or drained for other purposes, or may be supplied directly to the humidifier aspect of the invention for humidification purposes.